Nigeria’s Spot Putter Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, Triple jumper Ruth Usoro on Tuesday won Nigeria’s two gold medals in athletics at the ongoing 13th African Games in Accra, Ghana.
The 31 year old was the pre-Games overwhelming favourite to win and he fulfilled expectations in a historic manner, becoming the first Nigerian man to successfully defend a Shot Put title at the Games.
The Nigerian threw 21.06m to win the gold. He, however, was unable to beat the 21.43m games record he set in 2019.
Meanwhile, Ewa Peace failed to make it to the podium in the women’s high jump as she could only clear 1.75m to place fourth in an event Ghana’s, Amoanimaa Rose cleared 1.90m to win.
US based Usoro grabs her first African Games gold, aims for historic triple jump/long jump double.
Usoro hopped, stepped and jumped to her first African Games gold and became third Nigerian after Rosa Collins (1995) and Grace Anigbata (2019) to win a triple jump gold at the Games.
The 26 year old’s 13.80m effort was enough to fetch her the gold and equalled Collins’ altitude-aided winning mark 29 years ago.
Usoro will now turn her attention to the long jump event which begins on Wednesday. She will now be seeking to become the first Nigerian woman to successfully complete a triple jump and long jump double in the history of the Games. Victory for her will also mean she will become the second woman in Games history to win a triple jump and long jump gold at the same edition of the Games after Cameroon’s Joelle Mbumi Nkouindjin in 2015
On a sad note, Gina Bass and Emmanuel Eseme however denied Nigeria Sprinters the African Games 100m gold.
Nigerian sprinters will not mount the podium as African Games 100m winners duo of Gina Bass and Emmanuel Eseme ensured it will be The Gambia and Cameroon who will get their flags flown and national anthem played during the medal presentation.
Bass lived up to expectations after running 11.36 to win her first African Games 100m gold while Liberia’s Maia Alyse came second (11.49) and Nigeria’s Olajide Olayinka third in 11.55. Justina Eyakpobeyan ran 11.60 to place fifth.
For the men, Eseme also fulfilled pre-race expectations as he sped to his first African Games 100m gold in 10.14. Nigeria’s Ushoritse Itshekiri upgraded from the bronze he won five years ago to second (10.23) while Namibia ‘s Hainuca was third in 10.29. Consider Ekanem was fourth in 10.42.
Tomorrow, Tobi Amusan 100mh, 400m men and women, and other events will take place